Hot dogs and hot dog buns have existed for over a century and are firmly engrained in American culture. Americans enjoy eating hot dogs and this meal is as much a tradition as baseball and apple pie. During the three summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans eat over seven billion hot dogs. It is believed that approximately 23 million hot dogs and 5 million sausages were consumed a major league baseball stadiums in 2011. A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog or frankfurter. There are two basic types: side-loading, also called American style buns, and top-loading, also called New England style rolls.
While hot dogs have been part of the American diet for over a century, the hot dog bun has shortcomings. For example, the added condiments tend to spill out of the bun and end up on the clothing of the consumer—particularly as the list of added condiments changes and expands with the ingenuity of the consumer. Further still, buns tend to split or separate at the seam or fold. This also leads to a loss of the added condiments. In addition, because of its rounded shape, a consumer is often unwilling to put down a hot dog bun once loaded with a hot dog and selected condiments because the bun has a tendency to roll over and spill the contents. Thus, once the loaded hot dog bun is picked up, one or both of the consumer's hands are occupied until the hot dog is finished.
Over this same time period, attempts have been made to change and improve the hot dog bun, but with little if any success. Despite its shortcomings, the configuration of the hot dog bun has remained fairly static over the past century and the long standing problems remain.